Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Screen Shot of Our Chart Plotter as We Crossed Our Halfway Around the World Way Point

In late 2010, as Ruthie, Corie and I were in the final throes of preparation to cross the Pacific and head for points further west, occasionally someone would ask how long we anticipated we might be gone. "Three or four years," I would say, shocking the person asking the question. Who goes traveling for three or four years? It's rare that someone goes for three or four months and even three or four weeks can be seen as a lengthy trip amongst many people. Our present passage across the Indian Ocean is where we have crossed our halfway mark - 062°46.17' East. I calculated this coordinate based on the longitude that's printed on the cocktail napkins at the San Diego Yacht Club. Who would have thought that a cocktail napkin would be the source of information for a navigational computation? Granted, we're not at SDYC's antipodal - we'd have to travel almost 1,500 miles south from here to reach the exact opposite side of the world to do that and there's some very rough water down there.

So, our trip is longer than planned. Amongst our cruiser friends who are also on the Round the World route, we're going much too fast as we've only been gone 4 years, 5 months and 17 days. There are cruisers who have spent that much time in Southeast Asia alone and quadruple that for their own RTW route. There is so much to see and so much we have missed that often when we're making a decision about what we will see and what we won't, we kiddingly say that we'll see the missed sights on our next time around. Our perspective on time has certainly shifted - while in Southeast Asia, time was divided by the monsoons and now that we're heading to the higher latitudes of the southern hemisphere, we once again concern ourselves with the traditional four seasons.

If we're now halfway around the physical world, does that mean it will take us another 4 years, 5 months and 17 days before we get back to San Diego? That's hard to say. This year will see many miles under Rutea's keel while last year saw virtually none. We should be in Madagascar by early June and we'd like to be in South Africa by July, however, we'll be transiting the Mozambique Channel in the beginning of the southern hemisphere's winter and it has a nasty reputation even in the best months. Still, we know of people who did it last year and there's excellent weather forecasting available so we're optimistic. If things go according to plan, we'll fly home in August (hopefully visiting our son in the UK first) and then return to South Africa in November.

This passage has been good so far but the winds have been very light and we have a very limited amount of fuel. Our criterion for starting the engine is if our speed drops below 3 knots per hour and it's entirely possible that we might have to adjust that down even more. On the other hand, our weather router for this passage has warned us that we will need to brace ourselves for the high winds that are usually found around the northern tip of Madagascar. It might be uncomfortable but at least we should make good time. The weather now is fine - hot to be more specific - the Indian Ocean is a deep sapphire blue, the sky bright blue spangled with puffy white clouds.

This lifestyle still appeals to me. The people we've met, the friends we've made, the places we've seen, and even the long passages at sea have made durable memories that are my treasure. Rutea remains incredibly solid and her systems continue to function well albeit with the occasional hiccup but that's part and parcel to cruising. Our expectations have been exceeded. We journey on, confident in our ship and ourselves.
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At 5/27/2015 2:49 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 08°59.58'S 062°34.63'E

About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.